Whenever you have a dream, you will always have events or people in your life that will try and derail your focus. And for most of us, the number one person holding us back, is ourselves. Trust me- I know first hand. As a woman working to make my mark in media- I sometimes question my decision to not just go back into finance and be an accountant. Lord knows my bank account would be a lot happier if I did. But then I am reminded of how much fuller my life is now- because I’m perusing something I love to do.

But as much as I would like to say I came to this realization on my own- I can not. There are a few videos- made by my mentors (in my head)- that not only inspire me, but I use them as career affirmations constantly. I also find myself sharing them with friends and family members, who are struggling with their career or a direction for their lives… so I thought I’d share them with my VM family as-well.

1. Will Smith Shares His Secrets of Success

Affirmation: “There’s no reason to have a plan B, because it distracts from plan A.”

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As I mentally prepare to watch and discuss ‪#‎GirlsRising‬ today– a film that portrays the lives of nine young girls from around the world describing the challenges they face being denied an education– I googled “chibok kidnapping nigeria."

On the night of April 14, 2014, hundreds of schoolgirls at the Chibok boarding school in northeastern Nigeria awoke to the sound of gunfire. They saw men in camouflage approaching and thought soldiers were coming to save them from a militant attack, …

“I am in my 30s and was emboldened by Beyonce’s feminist stance on that stage, and can’t help but believe that that image will be equally as powerful to young people who witness that moment, whose first engagement with feminism will be that moment. Maybe, just maybe, Beyonce will serve as the bridgebetween pop culture and feminists like bell and Barbara and Audre, maybe some young woman bobbing her head to ‘Blow’ or ‘Partition’ or ‘Flawless’ will do so while reading Ain’t I A Woman? or Homegirls or Sister Outsider.”